


Escaping Ichiri Prime

by TheHirsch



Series: Reaper & Tiger [3]
Category: Doom (2005), Star Trek, star trek expanded universe
Genre: Action, Bromance, Dark, Escaping Captivity, Gen, Horror, Reaper & Tiger, Science Fiction, Starfleet Marine Corps, evil fungus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22049845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHirsch/pseuds/TheHirsch
Summary: Ichiri Prime is a Class P planet which houses one of the Bases of the Organisation C0mb0. A team of SFMC is sent down to gather intel, for some reason the C0mb0 knew about their presence and captured the team and killed two of them in the struggle. But the squadron would not give in and they managed to escape their cells and  now they try to get out of the enemy base and back to safety.
Relationships: Jurfield, Natalia Jurova / Lúthien Jurova (Lúthien Springfield)
Series: Reaper & Tiger [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572484
Kudos: 2





	Escaping Ichiri Prime

“You gotta be kidding me,” Echo sighed as he was what was right behind the hole they had blown into the wall. The last wall separating from freedom. 

The hole was a mouth of darkness in the dim light of the base hallway. 

Reaper had just dropped a glow-stick into the abyss below. He now was the man in charge and turned to their medical officer. “Tiger, give me some data.” 

Tiger nodded and stepped to the edge of the hole, holding her scanner in her right hand. The cave seemed to be deep, she couldn't see the floor. 

“About five meters to the floor, we would need climbing gear and our armour. The tunnels are filled with methane and carbon-dioxide, there is almost zero oxygen left for us to breathe. On tricorder range I can't see any exits so we will die down there if we want to search for one,” she explained in a lowered voice. 

“But if the catch us we are also dead…” Echo murmured, looking over her shoulder. 

The marines were in their undergarments which they usually wore under their armoured suits but the garments made out of a gel-like fabric weren't offering any ballistic protection or protected from cold, heat or radiation. 

With a lot of luck, they had managed to escape their cells and get some of their things like scanners and a few weapons.

“The Sarge died to get us out of our cells. We made it this far. We got this.” Reaper raised his gun. Let's find the rest of our gear and leave this hellhole. 

“Aye, sir,” Echo muttered. 

Reaper led them back the way they had come down. 

With a whole squat and a medical team they had landed on this planet — without the intent of getting ambushed and imprisoned of course — but now eight of them were left and they had lost their commanding officer. 

The enemy's base was on emergency lock-down, not shortly after their escape the enemy had noticed and now everyone was looking for them. With every minute they stayed the chance of getting caught grew. 

Both Tiger and Reaper were fully aware they could survive the conditions down there with a bit of luck but the rest couldn't and also they couldn't know. The only term the admirals had allowed them to keep working was that nobody could know about their recent enhancements. 

A few levels up, they still hadn't found their gear, the group marines into a group of guards, who promptly opened fire. The fight went on for a few minutes until silence returned in the hallways. 

“You okay?” Tiger asked her assistant, Otter, who already checked himself over, first and foremost his shoulder which he had injured earlier. 

“Not worse than earlier,” he said quietly. He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Tiger knew him well enough to know that. 

“Cacao when we get out of here alive?” she asked and the medic shot her a shaky smile. 

She gave Reaper a nod and he gestured to the team to follow him. 

After a while they had made it back to their cells and started to sweep the surrounding rooms, hiding from the guards and fighting if necessary. In the progress, one other soldier got shot but for now, he seemed stable and still able to walk. Tiger and Otter were able to fix the burn with the regenerator, for now, the best treatment they had. 

In case she would find her kit she could even give him an injection against the pain. 

“Got them,” Echo said softly so Otter could give Reaper a signal. But Echo froze. “Not all of them. Tiger's and Echo's aren't here and I have no idea where they are. The sergeant's still here though.”

“Tiger, Cover the door, the rest get into your suits one by one. Echo, you take the Sarge's. I know it ain't perfect but it is better than nothing.”

Tiger nodded and took Reaper's gun. She went to stand watch by the door. She had not seen her suit around she knew she had to improvise now. 

Thankfully no enemies showed up. The gas leak earlier seemed to had either cut down their numbers or distracted them to the point where they were unorganised. And after about ten minutes everyone was in their armour and Tiger had a look around: She found her kit between their rifles on a shelf in the corner but no armour. 

“What do we do with you?” Reaper asked quietly when he stood directly next to Tiger. 

“Technically I could use the oxygen tank in my kit with a nasal cannula, that should be enough for me and I'm small so you could carry me without difficulty. An for the cold…” 

“Look around if you can find any blankets or coats for Tiger. Meanwhile, she will give the injured a pain shot and we get going,” Reaper said from his position at the door. 

Tiger got out a Hypo and did her job. 

“I found a set of the clothes, the terrorists wear...” one of the marines said. 

“She's a ginger, I don't think we'll accidentally shoot her,” Cobalt, a young Andorian, joked. He had not said anything in hours. 

Tiger went over to get the clothes, which were thick warm, and a bit too big but they would keep her warm once the squad was back on the surface. Cobalt had also found a pair of gloves for her.

Once she had put on the clothes, she shouldered her bag and went over to Reaper and the others. 

Slowly the group started moving. They were a lot less stealthy but now had more firepower. 

Otter took a deep breath, he felt the pain medication kicking in already and he had missed the feeling of the supporting structure around him now his gun felt less heavy. 

Echo was obviously struggling with the Sargent's suit, the Sarge was at least ten centimetres taller and a lot more muscular and with the suits usually being custom made it made movement harder. Not even the gloves were fitting properly. He could walk but he felt bulgy and not agile at all. 

The squad had almost reached the hole in the basement when another group of enemies found them and started attacking them.

Reaper turned to the enemy. “Make it out of here, I'll keep them off your asses...”

Otter quickly drilled the hook into the concrete and helped Kowalsky climb into the abyss first. 

Tiger and the others had taken cover behind a corner, they watched how without panicking Reaper kept his comrades clear. He took a couple of blows to the torso but the armour was holding. 

Phaser fire was flashing in the spare red light and the smell of burnt fabric and flesh filled the air.

Tiger, last to go down before Reaper, hesitated before letting herself slide down. “Come on! Get over here!” she yelled before taking a deep breath and kicking herself off the rocks to fall a bit before slowing down. Her gaze was directed upwards, her left hand on the rope, her right hand holding her rifle in a tight grip. She was still not on oxygen, up there she had not had the time to put it on between being constantly shot at and making her way over to the hole. 

In the little light coming from the hallway, she could see Reaper lock himself on and Tiger could feel the rope shake as he started descending swiftly. As soon as Tiger felt her feet touch the floor she unhooked and stepped away from the line. While still looking up she put on the nasal cannula and secured the thin hose behind her ears, the fact that she didn’t see much made it a lot harder. It was not cold down here, compared to the freezing winds up at the surface at least. 

Suddenly the rope snapped with crack and Reaper fell the remaining few meters, hitting the rocky floor with a thud. Tiger gasped audibly and Otter (like the others able to see in the dark with the help of his night-vision-assistant) rushed to her side to see if Reaper was alright.

Reaper was moving, groaned and sat up, his HUD came to life and he looked up first where he had come from and then at Tiger. 

“I'm alright, doc,” he said softly. “It appears they cut the rope up there. They are not equipped to follow us so we should hurry.” 

Once Reaper was back on his feet, he looked around at his men and thought for a second. “Almost forgot.” He reached for one of the small pocket at his belt and handed Tiger a small spare communications-earpiece.

Tiger gave him a nod and put it on. She checked again if the oxygen tank was on maximum flow before grabbing her rifle with both hands again.

“Otter and Echo, you see if you can detect any exit points with your scanners. And everyone, I can't stress it enough even if this might not look like it this caves will kill you within minutes, so avoid sharp edges and keep your helmets shut at all costs. Closed formation, take Tiger and Avalanche into your centre, protect them as well as you can,” Reaper said and went to walk up front.

The marines tightened their formation. Otter and Echo kept a close eye on their wrist scanners. 

“The walls seem to be covered in some sort of mycelium,” Echo reported in a lowered voice. “As far as I know this kind and it’s subspecies are common in this solar system.”

Reaper nodded and the group kept moving slowly. All of them were on high alert.

“Sir,” Otter said after a while of walking. “Something is out there.”

Reaper raised a fist and everyone stopped. “Something?”

“It appears to be a group of the bear-like mammal species that lives on the surface. They are a few hundred meters up this tunnel and move quickly towards us. They will be here in about thirty seconds.”

“Prepare for contact!” Reaper ordered and positioned himself in a way where he shielded Tiger, who noticeably tensed up. Without her armour this could get rough, her grip around her weapon tightened. 

At first, the Marines could only hear them, their steps echoing from the stone walls of the caves but then they could see them in the green sheen of their HUDs. There were three of those creatures running towards them, the marines opened fire, the first creature stumbled and fell soon, the other two kept heading towards them and in the end one actually made it and Reaper and Cobalt, the two up front had to change into close combat to fight them. 

There was the sound of a struggle, a few shots flashed up and they were wrapped into a cloud that appeared like dust, besides Tiger’s coughing it was dead silent all of a sudden. 

Suddenly, there was a bright flash in the dark but then the torch was switched to a less blinding red; Otter had turned on his torch to see anything. His gaze was still fixed on the display of his scanner but then he looked and made eye-contact with Reaper. 

“Spores,” he said, sounding worried above else.

Tiger was trying to cover her mouth and nose with her sleeve, still coughing. 

“Make sure she is alright,” Reaper said to Otter and then got his scanner and bent over the passed out bear. “How can they be alive down here and why are they so aggressive?” His face darkened under his helmet when he got the readouts. “It appears the fungus inhabits a host, it lives off the CO2 in their blood, it transforms it into oxygen somehow and releases it back into the blood along with a substance, a hallucinogen of sorts. It also slowly degrades tissue, perhaps to make it edible.”

Tiger felt seven gazes rest on her when she looked up. “Make sure you sedate me the second I go nuts,” she said to Otter. 

“Hey,” Otter stepped a bit closer. “We got your back. And it won’t come that far if we can make sure your saturation stays up. I’ll keep an eye on your vitals all the time, doc.” He put a hand on her shoulder. 

Tiger nodded and Otter seemed to be thinking. 

“I could give you a shot of tri-ox, to boost your lungs performance,” he said. 

Tiger nodded again. She could still taste the spores in her mouth, she winced a bit at the cold hypo pressed against her neck.

“We will find an exit and get off this planet soon,” Reaper said as an encouragement to everyone. “Can we get moving again?” 

“Yes,” Tiger said softly, and slowly started walking again. Otter stayed to her right, constantly keeping her covered with his scanner to keep an eye on the oxygen saturation in her blood. Right now it was flickering between 97 and 99 which was great given the circumstances and the tri-ox shot was not even working yet, it would take a few more minutes to kick in. 

“I think I got a potential exit,” Echo said after they had followed the tunnels north for a while. 

Tiger had been awfully quiet the entire time and Otter had not left her side. 

“We need to turn left at the next intersection, that will lead us into a bigger cave which has a small tunnel to the surface. It's thin and we will have to dig us though a few meters of snow before we will see the light.”

Tiger jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around, she couldn’t see who was under the helmet but it was probably Reaper. 

Reaper wished he could do more to help her, she was his responsibility to keep safe, not just because he had brought her back a year ago.

“Good—,” Cobalt went silent as he saw the cave in the green shady pixels of his HUD.

Tiger, who couldn’t see anything but darkness raised both eyebrows, the smell of the cave had changed but apart from that, she couldn’t point out any differences. 

Reaper reached for his belt and cracked a glow stick over his knee and threw it into the centre of the cave. Now Tiger could see it too and it was even more visible for the others. There were piles of animals, big and small mammals, all overgrown by white veins of the fungus.

Tiger felt how she was going to be sick and all of a sudden her chest felt tight, too tight to breathe. 

“I have the exit, the tunnel is very steep and only half a meter wide, it is nothing more than a crevasse in the rock,” Echo said and slowly started heading towards the location where his scanner had put it. The rest of the squad slowly followed his lead, only Reaper, Tiger and Otter remained in place.

“Otter, go with the others, help them dig through the snow. I have to stay with Tiger.”

“Sir—,” Otter started. 

“It’s my responsibility to get her out of here alive,” Reaper interrupted him 

“Aye, sir,” Otter remembered the cacao and the fact that Tiger was married. Reaper knew Tiger for a long time and now she was panicking and he knew best how to help her. 

Otter turned around and followed the others to the crevasse and started climbing up. 

Reaper stood right in front of Tiger and put both his gloved hands on her shoulders. “Look at me, you will be okay.”

Tiger looked at him, his helmet was lit by the yellow light of the glow stick a few meters to their left. 

Reaper saw her saturation was still spiralling. He signed, took a deep breath and then removed his helmet to put it on her, after making sure nobody saw it. 

“You need to breathe really slow. Deep and slow okay?” he kept his hands on her shoulders. “Think about something pleasant, maybe spending time with your wife when you are on leave…” 

Tiger took some time but then started to follow his instructions. 

“John, I'm scared,” she said quietly. 

“I know and it's okay. We are almost out of here.” He pointed at their way out. “I can and I will carry you out of here if you want the others to see that is your decision,” he said that with a hunch of a joke in his voice. 

“You are the Reaper why are you even nice?” she asked. Which told him that she was not alright. 

He picked her up to carry her towards the crevasse, surprisingly she didn't struggle at all. “Hell, Tiger, Lu can never hear of this.”

Reaper rechecked if he could carry her securely before he started to climb upwards. He started to feel a bit lightheaded but until he had reached the top he would have to put on his helmet anyway.

About halfway up, where he could already hear the others, he stopped and sat Tiger down. 

“Hey,” he said, trying to figure out if she was conscious. 

Tiger reacted with looking at him. “Yeah?” she asked softly. 

“Need my helmet back but we are out of here in no time.” 

She only nodded. And Reaper bent over her to take off the helmet and put it on himself again. 

With an audible click, the helmet locked into place, and his suit was sealed again. 

“I'll now pick you up again,” he announced before carefully lifting her up to continue his climb. 

The rest of the squad was about the breakthrough the last layer of snow and ice when he arrived. 

The final few decimeters collapsed on themselves and the fresh snow covering the hardened layer fell down onto the soldiers. The dim daylight coming through the cloudy sky seemed like the brightest light ever. 

“Cobalt?” Reaper asked the Andorian, who knew his job. 

Cobalt hailed the //Meleva// and told them they had eight to transport. 

It didn't take another minute until golden threats wrapped around them and they rematerialised elsewhere. 

***

The first thing Reaper noticed was the lack of Tiger's weight on his shoulder. The light was bright, too bright to be in the transporter room. 

He subconsciously held his breath as he looked around. He was in a cell. Next to him leaned against the forcefield separating them leaned Tiger. 

She was still in her coat and looked less pale than earlier. 

“The transporter found huge quantities of a pathogen on you, you are in quarantine,” Vulture said as he stepped up and down in front of the two containment cells. His gaze seemed to burn a hole into Reapers chest plate and Reaper, all of a sudden, didn't feel any need at all to take off his helmet. 

“I'm aware that Tiger is a stupid, reckless and gay idiot… But you? You are in a perfectly functional armour how on earth are you here?” Vulture was now so close to the barrier that he was in danger of burning his nose on it. 

“Can I have a different physician, Python perhaps?” Reaper asked bluntly. 

“No way,” Vulture hissed. “I'm in charge and Tiger is out.”

After Tiger had been promoted Vulture was even hostile towards her. 

Like on queue Tiger began to stir and sat up from the uncomfortable position she had rematerialised in. She looked around in a brief moment of panic then free herself from the nasal cannula and backpack and slowly got up. When she saw Reaper she slowly raised a hand to greet him. He watched how she limped over to the biobed and sat down. She was shaky, she looked like she was about to panic again.

Vulture shot Reaper another gaze before turning around to talk to the nurse. 

Reaper was glad to be out of there and that he had gotten them all to safety. But now he was a prisoner once again.   
  



End file.
